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Here's a list of the communities used for comparisons in the Community of Choice project: Bloomington; Madison, Wis.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Iowa City, Iowa; Eugene, Ore.; and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.

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When I win the lottery, or when I come into that unexpected inheritance that leaves me without financial care, I'm starting a radio station. Definitely a basement bowling alley that features live music in downtown Lafayette. Maybe open an independent movie house.

Hey, the Community of Choice project consultant Rebecca Ryan said I should dream. So I'm dreaming.

I briefly met Ryan of Next Generation Consulting when the Madison, Wis., firm's assessment of Greater Lafayette was released earlier this month. She was drumming up some critical mass for the next step of the Greater Lafayette Commerce-sponsored study -- the "dreaming" stage, where we all spitball ideas that would help transform Greater Lafayette into the place we always dreamed it could be.

Whatever that is.

Two things I got out of that meeting:

1. Ryan has a pretty good feel for Greater Lafayette in a short time. Reading 1,500 community assessment surveys and thinking about how Greater Lafayette stacks up to seven comparable college towns might have something to do with that.

2. And she frequently punctuated the conversation with this: "Right on!" As in: Where do you go out to eat if you get first choice? After your answer: Right on!

"You have a lot of cool things going for you," she said that day. "But I'm getting the feeling that a lot of it is about the car -- if you want to go from, say, the Triple XXX to the Black Sparrow, there's a lot of car action going on."

Why this community can't handle the 0.7-mile walk from the iconic Triple XXX halfway up the State Street Hill to the eclectic Black Sparrow in downtown Lafayette is fodder for a column another day. Either way, that's something Ryan didn't say was right on.

A lot of the dreaming Greater Lafayette is being asked to do will trend toward big ticket items -- riverfront development, investments in WiFi across downtown and beyond, that sort of thing.

And so far, much of the informal chat about what Greater Lafayette needs to do to up the hip quotient has fallen into wishes that require a significant investment, generally by someone else. As in: You know what they should do ...? It's the Nirvana approach: Here we are now/entertain us.

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So beyond millions of dollars and long-range planning, I asked Ryan -- and others through social media and day-to-day conversation -- about low-hanging fruit. What are one or two things we could do right now on the Community of Choice road? What are those right-on things that are ripe and ready to pick.

Here were Ryan's top four choices.

No. 1: "This week: Reconsider the unintended consequences of West Lafayette's one-parking-spot-per-bed policy on a college town, where most students are on foot ... and approve the Landmark project."

Ryan said in that meeting a few weeks ago that part of her job as a consultant holding a mirror up to Greater Lafayette was to make some people uncomfortable. The Landmark -- developer Marc Muinzer's six-story, $50 million, parking-lite proposal across from Mackey Arena -- is as good a place as any to start on that front.

Muinzer's request for a planned development zoning for the controversial project goes before the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission tonight. The West Lafayette City Council will get the final say, likely in March.

"Will a turn away from a policy that favors cars and parking upset some residents? Yes," Ryan wrote in a letter to the Area Plan Commission on Tuesday. "Will having an abundance of parking spots make your city a magnet for talent. No."

Whether she's nailed the nuances of this debate is up in the air. Her letter asks the APC to "put pedestrians and neighborhoods first; the neighborhoods are the ones with the biggest beefs -- and legitimate beefs -- about The Landmark.

But her point is: The more the community can do to discourage driving and encourage walking, the better. The Landmark, she contends, is a place to start.

No. 2: "This month: Bring the (Lafayettech Hub) downtown."

Specifically, she was talking about the tech incubator enterprise, now located in the low-slung, functional buildings tucked away from view on 36th Street, in the vicinity of the Super Target on Indiana 26 East. Last weekend, Lafayettech Inc. hosted its Startup Weekend, bringing dozens of people in to create and pitch high-tech business ideas.

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Ryan's point: Don't hide that sort of emerging talent. "Give it a chance to flourish by putting it in close proximity to (Purdue) students and downtown," Ryan said.

The Lafayette Farmers Market in the downtown and the Sagamore West Farmers Market in West Lafayette run from early May through October, with a few special events sprinkled in around Thanksgiving and other holidays. Dennis Carson, director of Lafayette's Economic Development Department, and Erin Nelson of Greater Lafayette Commerce say they are working on a year-round farmers market setup. Nice idea.

No. 4: "Get yourself a sexy, easy-to-use after hours app that's populated with all the stuff there is to do after work."

One of the biggest parts of this Community of Choice business, for my money, is getting people on both sides of the Wabash to realize what's going on now. Like I said last week, we aren't starting from scratch here. Or at least we shouldn't be. Aggregating the cool stuff going on now in a way that gets young professionals and the rest to partake is a good idea. Get the tech hub on the job, now.

With any luck and the right lottery numbers, I'll add lane availability for my downtown bowling alley to that after hours app. Playlists for the radio station, too.

It's a start.

Bangert is a columnist with the J&C. Contact him at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter @davebangert. If you're interested in a job as a DJ and don't mind waiting for the lottery, send your playlists to the email above.